Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.

October 1923. Washington, D.C. "Allied Asphalt Products Co." Behind all that smelly hot tar and paving aggregate, under the compacted gravel -- a hidden world of glamour and intrigue! National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.

September 28, 1910. White's Bog, Browns Mills, New Jersey. "Arnao family, 831 Catherine St., Rear #2. Whole family works. Jo is 3 years old. Boy is 6 years old, Girl is 9 years old. We found this family, children and all, working on Hichens farm, Cannon, Delaware, May 28th 1910, before school closed. This is the fourth week of school and the mother said they would be here for 15 or 20 days more. Witness, E.F. Brown." Photo and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

May 1910. Seaford, Delaware. "This photo shows what was formerly a chicken coop, in which during the berry season the Arnao family live on Hitchen's farm. Seventeen children and five elders live here. Ten youngest children range in age from 3 to 13. On the day of the investigation no berries being picked on Hitchen's Farm. The family went over to the Truitt's farm to pick. Edward F. Brown, Investigator." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

Alexandria, Virginia, circa 1926. "Dr. Fairfax home (Ford Motor Co.)" From a series of photographs, taken for Ford Motor Co., showing Alexandria landmarks. The car here is a Lincoln. National Photo glass negative. View full size.

Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo archive featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1960s. (Available as fine-art prints from the Shorpy Archive.) The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.